LONDON/MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A Group of Seven statement
designed to cool international currency tensions should be taken
at face value and anonymous officials should not try to
reinterpret it, the Bank of England's chief said on Wednesday.

Currency markets were thrown in to turmoil on Tuesday after
a day of mixed messages about exchange rates, prompted by
Japan's new government pressing for an aggressive expansion of
monetary policy, which has seen the yen weaken sharply.

G7 nations - Britain, the United States, Japan, Germany,
France, Italy and Canada - said fiscal and monetary policies
must be directed at domestic economies and not at targeting
exchange rates.

Japan quickly said the statement - released by Britain which
chairs the G8 grouping (G7 plus Russia) this year - gave it a
green light to continue efforts to reflate its economy.

But a G7 official responded by saying it was aimed squarely
at Tokyo, a comment that prompt the yen to surge on a volatile
foreign exchange market.
Continued...